The Election Commission (EC) halted vote counting for Siraha constituency-5 on Thursday night until further notice.
Election officer Uddhav Prasad Prasai said the decision came after the enumerators found discrepancies in the ratio of ballots cast and the number of voters in the Rampurbirta VDC-based polling booth. "The number of ballots exceeded the number of voters by 218," he said.
UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal is contesting from Siraha-5. Having lost in Kathmandu-10, his hope now rests in Siraha, where he was ahead of CPN-UML's Lilanath Shrestha by a thin margin.
The UML and other parties decried the EC's decision and demanded the counting be continued. They claimed that the counting was stopped as it was clear that Dahal's defeat was certain in the constituency as well.
"We could go for re-polling there if the dispute is not resolved," Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety told the Post in Kathmandu.
Election officer Uddhav Prasad Prasai said the decision came after the enumerators found discrepancies in the ratio of ballots cast and the number of voters in the Rampurbirta VDC-based polling booth. "The number of ballots exceeded the number of voters by 218," he said.
UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal is contesting from Siraha-5. Having lost in Kathmandu-10, his hope now rests in Siraha, where he was ahead of CPN-UML's Lilanath Shrestha by a thin margin.
The UML and other parties decried the EC's decision and demanded the counting be continued. They claimed that the counting was stopped as it was clear that Dahal's defeat was certain in the constituency as well.
"We could go for re-polling there if the dispute is not resolved," Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety told the Post in Kathmandu.
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